27 Ways To Make the PTO Table Pop at Back-to-School

November 01, 2017

by Kerri Beauchesne

The back-to-school open house is prime time for your group—this is your chance to shine! You’ll be meeting new and returning parents, so it’s important to make a good first impression. From new volunteer selfie stations and free parent gift packs to avoiding things like chair-sitting and clipboard amnesia, we’ve rounded up 27 fun and practical things to do (and not do!) at your PTO table this fall.

1. It’s getting hot in here (thanks, summer, for sticking around). Help parents cool off by passing out water bottles with fun, welcoming notes attached.

4. Back-to-school can get expensive (seriously, that calculator is HOW MUCH?!), so passing out free samples and coupons to parents is a great way to break the ice and bring a smile to their faces.

5. Hold a drawing for a high-value door prize. We’re loving this gift basket that includes Box Tops for Education items...but we could be a bit biased there. A backpack of school supplies or school T-shirts for a whole family are good options, too.

9. And for those of you who love to kick things up a notch (ahem...sound familiar?), a full-blown pledge tree using said hands is a pretty impressive display of volunteer super power.

10. Have flyers explaining why parents should join the PTO. We stopped at 10 with this one, but we probably could’ve gone all the way to 100. Or 1,000.

11. Instead of waiting for parents to approach your table, have a fleet of roaming welcomers (aka PTO Special Ops) wander around. Arm them with ipads or clipboards so they can easily get parent contact information.

via DragonImages/Thinkstock

12. Snazzy shirts make it easy for folks to identify your PTO...

14. Put together a game plan ahead of time and define a clear call to action for your group. It’s nice to chat, but at the end of the day you want to be sure you have whatever you need to follow up with parents.

15. Keep the young’uns at bay while you chat with parents. Have simple crafts available, like coloring pages, Play-Doh, or beads to string on pipe cleaners.

26. Have a new parent selfie station! Invite parents to pose with a #volunteersrock sign and someone from your group. Then, share the photos on your PTO’s social media channels.

27. And most important, don’t forget to have plenty of those welcome packets handy!

Feeling inspired? Good! Now go and grab the proverbial PTO bull by the horns and start thinking about your back-to-school event and what you can do now to get ahead for fall. For starters, take 60 seconds right now to sign up for our free Back2School program—select groups will receive free samples and coupons to hand out to parents, a colorful involvement banner to hang from the PTO welcome table, and more!

Originally posted in 2016 and updated regularly. Back2School® and PTO Today® are trademarks of School Family Media®.